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Japanese American Citizens League's (JACL) refutation of the accusations made against the Japanese in the Dies Report, 1944

The Dies Committee, named after it's founder Martin Dies, Jr. a congressman from Texas, was initially founded in 1938 to investigate subversive activities taking place on American soil. The committee was also more formally known as the House Committee on Un-American Activities which became well known with the rise of McCarthyism and the communist scare after World War II. Following unrest at the internment camps Manzanar and Poston in 1942, along with reports in 1943 that the War Relocation Authority (WRA) planned to release loyal Japanese from the internment camps, and an announcement in 1943 that the WRA would allow Japanese soldiers on leave to return to the West Coast, the Dies Committee launched an investigation of both the WRA and the Japanese community. The resulting report was riddled with racism and conspiracy theories, accusing the Japanese community of attempts at insurrection and espionage dating back prior to the start of the war. (This added to the racist comments made in a report previously released by the committee known as the "Yellow Book" attempting to portray the Japanese as both evil and disloyal.) The 1943 report also attempted to showcase the WRA as an incompetent and un-American organization. WRA Director Dillon S. Myer responded immediately to the charges and was able to show that they were without merit. Many of them were subsequently dismissed.

First established in 1919, the Church Council of Greater Seattle (then known as the Seattle Federation of Churches) served as an important organization in the Pacific Northwest community, frequently aiding in local humanitarian causes. During World War II they organized various programs aimed at supporting Japanese-Americans who were subjected to various forms of discrimination including but not limited to forced evacuation from their homes and eventual internment in relocation centers along the west coast. They also played an active role running a resettlement program to assist Japanese internees leaving the internment camps in trying to find new homes and employment.